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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432608">Spread of Terror Across Space</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySibilance/pseuds/Baird%20Crevan'>Baird Crevan (LadySibilance)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon), Transformers - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Starscream being Starscream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:02:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,899</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432608</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySibilance/pseuds/Baird%20Crevan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Transformers (mostly pre-Earth G1) x Steven Universe (Era 1)  Yellow Diamond finds an old "friend" on one of her patrols; a former seeker-scientist she had rescued from certain death in space a few millennia ago.  She brings him home to meet their new counterpart, Pink Diamond.  Starscream and Pink don't exactly get along.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Megatron/Starscream (Transformers), Pink Diamond/Pink Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers), Yellow Diamond/Yellow Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Indulge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have to get this out of my head.  I don't even know if there is an audience for this, and I already have like 3 fics going right now, but to hell with it.  I’m doing it. Just going all in.  Takes place pre-Earth for both shows- early war on Cybertron so both factions are still fighting heavily and Starscream is a young Lieutenant with Captains TC and Warp; not the Elite Trine yet, and Pink Diamond has "recently" been "born" on Homeworld.  </p><p>I like to think I'm trying to blend both shows as much as possible, but it will likely be Transformers heavy because that is what I am used to writing.  There is a lot of fanon for TF that I will attempt to explain for anyone wading in here for the first time.  For this chapter- Starscream is part of a trine, or a set of 3 "seekers"(flier-types) that in this case share a special bond.  If you have other questions, just send a comment, happy to explain.</p><p>But hell, they both take place in space, both have colonies and like conquering shit so of course they might have met at some point? :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yellow Diamond watched the screen with interest.  Soon, <em>soon</em> they would be within comms range, and she would simply <em>relish</em> the look on the Cybertronian’s faces when they realized they had strayed too close to one of her many colonies.  She traveled today rather incognito and knew that they would expect her to be an Emerald or maybe a Jasper.</p><p>Her fingers grasped the armrests of her chair in excitement.</p><p>“Hail them,” she said breathlessly, smiling with sharp, excited teeth.</p><p>“Yes, my Diamond,” replied her Pearl.</p><p>There was a palpable pause from the time the hail had been sent to the time they picked up.  Yellow knew the mechs waiting inside would likely be debating answering or sizing her up.  She held her breath in anticipation.</p><p>“Yellow Diamond.  What an utter surprise,” came the deep rumble on the screen.</p><p>“<em>Megatron</em>,” she purred, almost too excited for words.  Today was going to be fun.  “So far from home, little mech!  You must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”</p><p>“We were pursuing Autobot criminals who got away from us.  Unfortunately, our navigation array was taken out in the firefight.”</p><p>Yellow Diamond’s smile hardened.  “You Cybertronians always seem to be losing navigation and wandering into the Diamond Authority’s territory; you would <em>think</em> you would reinforce that little piece of hardware to make sure these <em>accidents</em> don’t happen.”</p><p>Megatron’s brow furrowed in barely hidden annoyance.  Then he smiled.  “<em>My Diamond</em>,” he said bowing slightly.  “We have offended you.  How can we pay recompense?”</p><p>Yellow Diamond honestly loved Megatron.  No other Cybertronian in the Autobot or Decepticon forces was as adept at bloodshed and as blunt as he was.  And she knew that he would indulge her.</p><p>“Do you have any <em>seekers </em>with you<em>?</em>” she asked, on the edge of decorum.</p><p>Megatron’s optics laughed.  “Do I have seekers?  I have your <em>favorite</em> with me.”</p><hr/><p>“This is <em>ridiculous, </em>my lord,” Starscream spat as his trinemates were doing last-minute flight checks.  “I <em>told</em> you not to go chasing after the slagging medic ship!  We were already too close to Diamond Authority space as it was!”</p><p>“Come now, Starscream, I know how much you want to play hero to the faction; this is your chance!”</p><p>The seeker pulled out a digit and pointed it into the Decepticon leader’s chassis.  “You fragging <em>owe me</em>, sir.”</p><p>Megatron grabbed said digit, and twisted it backwards towards the mech, eliciting a hiss.  “You forget yourself, Lieutenant Starscream.  You owe <em>me</em> your allegiance, and this is part of it.  Now, go out there and fly, little seeker, and save our plating!”</p><p>To his left, Starscream felt Skywarp salute as if the utterings of the warlord were some rousing speech.  Thundercracker at least had the sense to just nod.  Starscream attempted to pull back his injured digit from the warlord, but he held firm.</p><p>“Starscream, it is not lost on me how valuable you are to my cause,” Megatron said, softening.  “Any other seeker squadron in this situation would surely be destroyed, but I know you three will outrun her.”</p><p>Starscream’s optics widened a little at the praise, and he nodded mutely.  He turned to his trine and nodded, heading to the bay doors of the ship.</p><p>Megatron watched them go smiling darkly in the dimly lit ship.  <em>Too easy</em>.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Young Lieutenant Starscream!  You should have told Megatron to stay away from this area of space if you didn’t want to play with me,” Yellow called over the comms watching as the three seekers poured out of the bay of the ship.</p><p>“<em>My Diamond</em>,” came the raspy reply.  “<em>I assure you I did tell him thusly, but he hardly listens to me.</em>”</p><p>Yellow smirked as she stood from her chair and onlined the holographic controls that would give her direct access to her ship’s functions.  They spread around her like the keyboard of a deadly pipe organ.</p><p>“Pearl, my dear, you may retire if you so wish,” Yellow said kindly as she cracked her knuckles.</p><p>But her Pearl merely shook her head.  “I wish to remain on the bridge with my Diamond.” </p><p>Yellow nodded, the response welcomed, if not expected.  It was better to have an audience anyway.</p><p>Yellow noticed the blue seeker moved a little more stiffly than usual.  That could be an advantage. </p><p>She knew that the seekers were one of the more curious frame-types that had come out of Cybertron, and they had a unique culture of often being paired in threes.  They were a frame-type specifically built for battle, or so the legend went, and their prowess during their civil war had helped the Decepticon faction gain a major upper hand. </p><p>But being in a trine afforded both protection and vulnerability.  Losing a trine-mate was like losing a piece of oneself, and Yellow thought that the other two would avoid it at any cost.  She would take advantage of this.  She knew Starscream did not enjoy weakness.</p><p>It had happened by chance, many, many eons ago that Yellow Diamond had encountered a young single seeker explorer adrift far too close to her colony planets.  He was almost dead from lack of sustenance, and he had no weapons to speak of; Yellow Diamond had taken it upon herself to rescue him from certain termination.  He had been frightened, and apparently heartbroken after the death of his lover, but he was intelligent and quite properly amazed at the Diamond’s visage.  She had almost decided to keep him as a pet, permanently.  But, eventually, he left under good terms.</p><p>When she learned that seekers were actually war machines, she had been surprised.  Starscream had been abrasive, but not dangerous.  So, when a few thousand years later, she encountered him in a squadron of warriors, she had been quite surprised.  She had challenged him to a game.</p><p>It had taken some time to develop this game, but the Decepticons especially were happy to oblige her as long as she left their main forces intact.  Fine by her.  She sought the thrill of the hunt.</p><p>She pinged Starscream some coordinates and delighted when he gave a look of surprise.  “Too far, mech?” she said smiling.</p><p>His smile was leonine.  <em>“Of course not, my Diamond.  If this is what you wish, then we will be happy to oblige.”</em></p><p>She could feel electricity in her fingers.  “I should warn you, Starscream, I’m feeling quite… enthusiastic today.  I might actually catch you this time.”</p><p>Starscream bowed in space towards her ship.  <em>“You can try, my Diamond.”</em></p>
<hr/><p>“We are totally slagged,” moaned Skywarp as Starscream lifted out of the bow.  “It’s <em>never</em> been that far before.”</p><p>“She seems to have quite a bit of pent-up energy,” Starscream drawled.  “We will have to keep things tight and fast.”</p><p>“If she’s so eager to offline you, why do <em>we</em> have to be involved?” Skywarp continued, as he stretched his wings. </p><p>“She doesn’t actually want to offline me, ‘Warp, she’s just bored.  They’ve conquered around more than 30 planets now and had very little resistance in each one.  I’m sure she’s just eager for a fight.” Starscream twitched his wings as he threw his helm back at their own ship.  “But if you want to be mad at someone, get mad at Megatron.  I told him she would be stalking around here.”</p><p>“The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can move on,” Thundercracker said, cutting off a retort from Skywarp.</p><p>Starscream looked to him with some concern.  “Does your injury still hurt you?”</p><p>“It’ll be fine,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Regardless, stick close to Skywarp.  If things get dicey, just warp out of there and I will hold her attention.”  The other two nodded.</p><p>“We’re ready,” he commed Yellow Diamond.</p><p>“<em>Begin.”</em></p><p>The three seekers transformed into the jet-alts and took off into the deep space as Yellow Diamond’s cruiser shot off after them.</p>
<hr/><p>Starscream could feel the strain in his thrusters as they began to sting from being on too long going at full speed.  Seekers were sprinters; you took a shuttle if you wanted endurance.</p><p>His sensors felt behind him and Skywarp and Thundercracker were sticking close to each other making sure to do evasive maneuvers to avoid the barrage of weapons fire that Yellow Diamond was heaping upon them.  He was outpacing them too much, so he slowed his thrusters to try and give Yellow multiple targets.</p><p>He felt like a turbofox ahead of a very large and dangerous turbohound.  As much as Yellow didn’t really <em>want</em> to offline them, if they made the wrong move she would not hesitate to do so.  The Diamonds had earned their reputations as incredible powerful despots of their corner of the universe, and most Cybertronians avoided them as much as possible.</p><p>Starscream had likely more knowledge of why than most, but he didn’t advertise his… time spent on Homeworld prior to the war. </p><p>Starscream felt her attention switch to him as a few missiles fired off from her cruiser homing in on his signal.  He released countermeasures and attempted to bank out of the way left.  He had managed to stop all but one of the missiles.  The last one locked onto him and he swore in Cybertronian as his HUD filled with alerts.  His tetrajet form spun, trying to shake the missile, but it held firm gaining on him every second. </p><p>Skywarp had teleported right next to him and attempted to shake the missile by having it lock onto him and then letting it split down the middle.  This could work if Skywarp and Starscream were able to coordinate their pull offs at the same distance at the same time; a feat that would be very difficult for even the Elite trine, but something that Skywarp knew they could do together.  Following the lead of his trinemate, they pulled off together not only both turning in opposite directions on a horizontal axis, but on a vertical one, corkscrewing as if on a dime.  The missile lost its target, and rather than reacquire a possibly wrong target, it self-destructed. </p><p>Skywarp whistled through the comms, breathing a sigh of relief.  “A little close for comfort, ‘Screamer!  I’m not sure we will make another 5 kliks if she keeps this up.”</p><p>“Get back to TC, we are almost there!”</p><p>Thundercracker was ailing, the strain of flying fast and avoiding the Diamond’s firepower was reopening all his old wounds from a battle the previous day.  When he started to feel energon streak down the side of his jet-alt, he felt panic wrap around his spark.</p><p>Yellow Diamond noticed.</p><p>Her angular face darkened with glee as she spun the cruiser to focus in on the blue seeker.  She increased speed to close the distance so that he could not maneuver out of fire if she so chose.  Yellow Diamond caressed the controls that would allow her to fire.</p><p>“TC!” Skywarp called over comms, blinking out from next to Starscream and appearing next to Thundercracker.  Yellow laughed manically in her ship, now having two quarries instead of one.</p><p>But then Starscream flipped and jetted to his wingmates, and all three of them were next to each other, in her sights; their sparks in her hands.  In a flurry of excitement, she fired, noticing the seekers transform into the bi-pedal forms and look at her with a mixture of fear and determination.  Her missiles left her ship and exploded in front of her in an array of colors.  Her smile was short-lived as she heard a ‘BOP’ noise in her ears.</p><p>The three seekers were inside her ship.  Skywarp was holding up Thundercracker who was bleeding energon all over the floor.  The black and blue seekers looked up at her with slack jaws, apparently not expecting her to be so tall.  But, as usual, it was Starscream who held her attention.</p><p>He had his wrist-mounted null-ray pointed at her Pearl.</p><p>She batted away her holographic controls and they disappeared from around her.  Her face was dark.  “You dare threaten my Pearl,” she said lowly.</p><p>Starscream flicked his optics to his trinemates and then down to the frightened little Pearl before him.  Her face was flush and a graceful hand was partially closed in front of her in elegant surprise and fear.  A dainty and beautiful thing.</p><p>“Forgive me, my Diamond.  You threatened my trine,” he said placatingly.  He removed his null-ray and bowed.  “I would cede the match to you then, great one.”</p><p>Yellow’s face relaxed as she flicked her wrist to her Pearl, who looked on the verge of tears.  She ran from the bridge after giving a look to her Diamond, hoping she was not displeased with her.</p><p>Yellow’s face was still impassive as she touched a button on her throne.  Megatron’s visage filled the screen.  “Hmm, still online then,” he said almost with disappointment.</p><p>“Yes, though it was rather close.  I am impressed as ever,” she said glancing at the tri-colored seeker.  She turned her attention back to the screen.  “You may continue your search in my territory for another day-cycle if you wish.  My patrols will stay out of your way.” Megatron bowed with a poorly hidden smirk.</p><p>“But I will be taking your Lieutenant and his trine back to Homeworld.”</p><p>Starscream blanched as fear wrapped around his spark.</p><p>Megatron did not react.  “…Permanently?” he asked, indifferent.</p><p>“No, I don’t think so,” she replied.  “They will be my guests and will be returned to you after a deca-cycle.”</p><p>Starscream looked like he was about to protest, but a glare from Megatron kept him quiet.</p><p>“As you wish, my Diamond.  Starscream, as you know, is quite a handful, but I’m sure if anyone can handle him, it is you in your inspired benevolence.”  He bowed again and cut the comm.</p><p>Starscream closed his optics, trying to steady himself. </p><p>“White and Blue will be so happy to see you,” Yellow said, her smile genuine.  “It has been far too long!” she started to pull up her navigation and key it into the ship.</p><p>“My Diamond,” Starscream began, his mouth dry.  “My… trine, is not familiar with your court’s rules and customs.  I would be mortified if they offended you in some way.  Like… bleeding on your bridge floor,” he said with disgust.  Despite his words, a quick pulse of <em>trust/calm/quiet</em> came through the trinebond.</p><p>“Oh nonsense, Starscream!  It is the price of <em>battle</em>!  I simply <em>must</em> discuss it with you.  Let’s get him some medical treatment though; he is looking rather <em>wan</em>.  And besides, I know you will do an expert job in explaining our <em>rules</em>, won’t you dear?”  Her smile was sharp, her eyes lidded.</p><p>Starscream swallowed.  “Of course, my Diamond.”</p><p>“Good, let us go below.  I have a surprise for you.”</p><p>Starscream gave a look to his trine, who managed to look both frightened and pissed at the same time.</p><p>He did not blame them in the slightest.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yellow Diamond had been impressed by the seekers’ boldness.  Not only did they cross the line of disrupting the game, they entered her ship without permission, and threatened her Pearl.</p><p>Starscream was developing into quite the reckless little brat.  She loved it.</p><p>That kind of boldness was something that was missing from her ranks.  Her warrior Quartzes were dedicated and loyal, her Emeralds were ruthless and wrathful, her Garnets and Hessionites were commanding and powerful.  Even her Peridots were brilliant in their own way.  But Starscream… he was all of those things with a little bit of… insubordination.  It was interesting.</p><p>“You will find there are some new things about Homeworld, including a new Diamond,” she said over her shoulder to the shorter mech who walked behind her.  She was pleased when he looked surprised, and barely concealed fear.</p><p>“A new… Diamond…?”  Poor dear looked like he was going to purge.</p><p>“Yes, Pink Diamond!  Oh you will love her, she is so <em>funny</em>,” Yellow said smiling.  Starscream looked disturbed.</p><p>“Here we are, your surprise.  Go on, take a look.”</p><p>They were at a giant door, and after taking a deep breath, Starscream walked in.</p><p>Inside were six Autobots.</p><p>Almost involuntarily, his null-rays warmed at the sight, but he felt the disturbingly light touch of the Diamond’s form place a hand on his shoulder.  “Now, now, play nice.  These are gifts for Pink to play with.  We wanted her to have a chance to meet some new alien species on our own terms.  No, the surprise is the berths and energon dispensers!  You won’t have to recharge on the floor anymore, isn’t it wonderful?”</p><p>Starscream powered down his weapons and lifted his chin at the Autobots, but his eyes did show something that might have been pity.  They likely had no idea what fate was coming for them.</p><p>He put on a smile on gratitude.  “Thank you, my Diamond.  But… you wish us to remain… here?” He asked, eyeing the other mechs carefully.</p><p>“Yes of course, I can’t let you have free reign of the ship, can I?” She laughed.  But then a thought occurred to her and she looked down at the Autobots and then to Starscream.  “Oh my, I completely forgot you were different factions!  All of you Cybertronians look the same to me.  Give me your weapons, Starscream.”</p><p>Without hesitation, Starscream released his null-rays and removed them from his trinemates, handing them to Yellow with a slightly shaking servo.  Skywarp seemed like he wanted to protest but a quick look from Starscream and he said nothing.</p><p>“I went through a lot of trouble to get them for Pink, and she will be expecting a gift when I return. I can’t come home with broken pieces of a gift, you understand?”  Yellow accepted the weapons from Starscream.  “But I recognize this is hard for you, but I know you will figure it out.  I need you to teach them some manners.  I will hold you responsible if they offend Pink.”</p><p>Starscream’s optics were wide and he began to open his mouth, but Yellow leaned down and placed a finger on his lips.  “It’s the least you can do.  Pearl is going to be beside herself with fright.”</p><p>Starscream clenched his servos and his optics blazed a lovely defiant shade of red.  But then he bowed while doing the Diamond salute.  “As you command, my Diamond.”</p><p>Yellow lovingly pet his helm, even as he shivered.  “Excellent.  I have missed you so, little seeker.”</p><p>She strode out of the room, the door closing behind her.</p><p>Starscream buried his faceplate in his servos.  They were deep in it now.</p><p>It was Thundercracker’s whimper of pain that brought him back.  Starscream gave a look to Skywarp and leaned down to help carry their injured trinemate over to a berth, despite the careful, watchful looks from the Autobots in the corner.  They were whispering and looking at him suspiciously but did not approach as they worked to patch up their trinemate.</p><p>Skywarp was glaring at him, but Starscream said nothing.  Thundercracker was slipping into unconsciousness from losing too much energon, and they had to stabilize him before he slipped into stasis lock.  They weren’t going to have access to an actual medic for some time, and he dared not risk the Gems working on Thundercracker.</p><p>Starscream saw an Autobot approach.  Starscream glared at him, which satisfyingly stopped him in his tracks, until the bot folded his arms across his chassis and practically growled.  “Listen, flyboy, I’m a medic.  I can help him.”</p><p>“Like we would trust you to get anywhere near-“ Skywarp began, but Starscream had stopped him by putting up a servo.  The black and purple seeker hissed in disapproval.</p><p>“Why would you help him?”</p><p>The medic shrugged.  “There is my oath and all that, but also it seems you know a lot more about what is going on here, so I thought I’d be <em>nice</em>,” the medic groused.</p><p>“In return for information,” Starscream said appraisingly.</p><p>“That’d be great, yeah.”</p><p>Starscream gave one last look to Thundercracker and stepped away, beckoning the medic over.  Skywarp looked murderous.  “If you hurt him in any way, you should know we will destroy you,” he said quietly.</p><p>“I don’t doubt it,” the medic replied as he began to check his patient.  “Name’s Rachet.”</p><p>“Lieutenant Starscream, with Captain Skywarp, and your patient Captain Thundercracker.”</p><p>Skywarp stepped away from Thundercracker and walked right into Starscream’s face.  “Lieutenant? <em>A word?”</em></p><p>Starscream rolled his optics as his trinemate stomped angrily to one side of the room.  “Listen,” the black and purple seeker started.  “I know you haven’t been a Decepticon for very long, but you can’t just give information away to them like this.”</p><p>Starscream put his servos on his hips.  “I understand why you are so upset, but you have <em>trust</em> me.”</p><p>Skywarp flared his nostrils.  The pretty little seeker had wormed his way into his spark only a few thousand years ago.  Thundercracker and he had courted the trineless seeker shortly after he had joined the Decepticon ranks, and it had taken a <em>lot </em>of convincing to get him to join the trine.  But they hadn’t gotten to know him <em>completely</em> before entering a trinebond, and this was one such occasion where things got difficult.  This red seeker was… stubborn.</p><p>Skywarp looked to Thundercracker and his optics softened.  He was talking to the medic and actually laughing a little, clearly starting to feel better under the ministrations of the medic.  Starscream reached out a servo and placed it on his shoulder.  “I will get us out of this.”  Skywarp pursed his lips but couldn’t do much when Starscream gave him that look.</p><p>“Are they an ally of yours?” came one of the Autobots, black and white with a red chevron on his forehead.  The “they” clearly being the Diamonds.  </p><p>Starscream hesitated.  “Not… exactly.  It is complicated,” he said, his wings twitching.  “’<em>They’</em> don’t see as equals, so being an ally would be ridiculous.  The Gems are ruled by the Diamond Authority, a triumvirate of three Diamonds… or four now I suppose… who rule over their Homeworld and colonies.  They don’t experience <em>revolutions</em>, their control is <em>absolute</em>.”</p><p>“How <em>do</em> they see us then?” Skywarp asked.</p><p>“We are toys to them.  You should not fight them if you can avoid it.”</p><p>“So what is our escape plan?”</p><p>Starscream frowned.  It appeared they didn’t get it yet.</p><p>It took a while, but he eventually felt satisfied that they had been properly warned about how things worked on Homeworld and the strength and power in the Diamonds.  He explained to them about the honorifics, the salutes, the court rituals that might help them understand what they were up against.  Some questions arose about how he knew all this, and he avoided and deflected as best he could.</p><p>It was not something he enjoyed remembering.</p><hr/><p>“Yellow!  You’re back!” cried a happy voice from the landing dock.</p><p>Yellow Diamond felt her eyes soften.  A smaller gem launched herself into her arms and Yellow happily caught her.  “Pink, you were supposed to <em>wait</em> for me to be presented.”  Though her words were stern, all she could do was smile and hold the younger Diamond in a joyous embrace.</p><p>“I brought you something,” she whispered into the hair of Pink. </p><p>“Presents?!” came the reply.</p><p>Yellow turned towards the ramp and snapped.  The Autobot Prisoners were escorted out by some Citrines and Jaspers.  Pink <em>squealed</em>.</p><p>“Ohmyglint, these are <em>mine?!</em>” she said breathlessly.  She ran over to them and saw she was about the same height as she was.  Her eyes were wide as she circled them, asking them a ton of questions.  Yellow Diamond was pleased that they looked almost charmed if they still weren’t so timid.</p><p>Starscream and his trine walked down the ramp, following her Pearl.  Pink saw them and bounded up to them.  “Ah Pink, this is Starscream, an old friend of mine.”</p><p>Starscream’s optics widened and he fell into a deep bow with the Diamond salute on his servos.  Pink smirked and stuck a delicate finger under his chin to lift his faceplate up.  “Oh but he is <em>beautiful</em>,” she said observing his dark faceplate.  “They all are!  But what are these?  He looks like a Lapis,” she said reaching for his wings.  The two seekers behind him flinched, but Starscream stood completely still as Pink touched and squeezed his wings, observing, caressing, pulling, and then went to scratch them.</p><p>He grimaced but said nothing.  Yellow was proud.  It seemed her training of him had not been fully forgotten.  “Pink, those are sensitive to him, you don’t want to hurt him,” she called over her shoulder as she kept walking into the palace.</p><p>Pink dug her nails into the wing a little more.  “Do you even feel pain?” she asked, curiously. </p><p>Starscream felt his intakes hitch.  “Yes, my Diamond.  We feel pain.”</p><p>She removed her hand and smiled.  “Oh, I see.  Well I look forward to seeing more of you!  Come, friends!” she indicated her Autobot toys and beckoned them to follow her.  The Citrines and Jaspers encouraged them to move along.</p><p>Starscream felt a stinging sensation in his wing and noticed that some energon welled in the place where her nails had been.  Yellow’s Pearl offered him a small piece of cloth.  “Pink Diamond is very strong,” she said proudly.  “She is rough with her possessions.”</p><p>Starscream looked after the receding backs of the Autobots and felt some pity for them.  It was good they had a medic.</p><p>Thundercracker leaned around and gave a significant Look to Starscream who was wiping his life-blood off his wings. </p><p>“<em>What the slag was that?” </em>came the private comm.</p><p>“…<em>Didn’t I mention the gems are strong?”</em></p><p>
  <em>“No, I meant… she asked if we feel pain?”</em>
</p><p>Starscream sighed and followed Yellow’s Pearl into the palace.  Skywarp and Thundercrack followed quietly.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So updates will be slow with this one, but I had written this a while ago so I figured I'd just throw it out there for ya.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Please stop, you are hurting me,” he said pathetically.  “I don’t know what you mean by ‘gem.’ Do you mean the geologic materials I have gathered in my subspace?” He unsubspaced some rocks that he had gathered in his travels and held them in his servos.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The creatures holding his wings scoffed.  </em>
</p><p><em>“No, you </em>fool<em>, we are wondering what your name is,” one of the creatures before him stated.  It was yellow, and larger than most combiners.</em></p><p>
  <em>Starscream shivered, his frame feeling weak.  “I am Starscream, a scientist from Cybertron.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Cybertron!” said the yellow thing.  “You are far from home, little one.  Why were you out here this far?”</em>
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  <em>Starscream felt his helm loll forward as his systems starting to go into shutdown.  They didn’t understand him when he said he required energon and had kept him locked in a cell on a ship for cycles.</em>
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  <em>“I was… trying to go home,” he said quietly.  “I require… fuel,” he said, the words coming out more and more slurred.</em>
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  <em>The yellow one was frowning.  “Figure out what he subsists off of,” she snapped.  Some other creatures scurried, scanning him, poking him, prodding him.</em>
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  <em>He might have passed out for a moment, when some kind of liquid was being poured down his throat.  It tasted horrible, but his systems understood it was an attempt at fuel, and slowly pulled him out of the rapidly approaching stasis lock.</em>
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  <em>He turned on his optics to see the large yellow creature before him again.  “I am Yellow Diamond.  You will be my guest, Starscream of Cybertron.”</em>
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  <em>Starscream felt himself slip into recharge.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Yellow Diamond walked into the throne room noticing that Blue and White were absent.  Pink ran up behind her, jumping on her back giggling.  “Pink!  Not in the <em>throne room</em> dear,” she said, though she laughed as well.  “Where are Blue and White?”</p><p>“Colony business,” she sniffed petulantly.  She slid off her back and then bowed deeply.  “But I would gladly help you with anything you might need from me?” She looked up with a wink.</p><p>Yellow laughed.  “No, my dear, you need only have fun and play with your toys.  Pearl,” she said.  “Summon some Bismuths.  These Cybertronians need a place to stay while they are here.”</p><p>“Are we prisoners?” said one of them. </p><p>Yellows eyes widened a little and slid to Starscream who had just entered.  He swallowed thickly.</p><p>“Starscream, I thought you had taught them manners?” she said, mildly annoyed.</p><p>“I believe I already explained to you how we do not speak unless spoken to-“</p><p>“I am not a slave, <em>‘Con</em>,” came the same Autobot.  He was green and white, and not noteworthy.</p><p>“I apologize, my Diamonds.  It appears I cannot help if they are stupid.” </p><p>Yellow arched an eyebrow and then smirked.  “I suppose we cannot fault you for his poor programming.  Destroy him for us.”</p><p>Starscream smiled.  “Gladly.  Weapons?”</p><p>“Improvise.”</p><p>The Autobot was already rounding his shoulders, ready to fight the Decepticon Lieutenant.  The medic Ratchet was speaking to him in low tones, gesticulating wildly, glancing at Starscream who was walking into the middle of the throne room with lithe confidence.  Starscream stole a glance at the Diamonds who were watching with rapt attention.</p><p>Finally, the Autobot pushed Ratchet roughly, and the other Autobots grabbed the medic and pulled him back as they went against the wall.  “You’re on your own, you fool!” he said angrily.</p><p>Skywarp and Thundercracker went to the opposite side, looking around the throne room for any advantage they could give their trinemate.</p><p>The Autobot started charging the seeker and immediately they fell into hand-to-hand combat.  Starscream was able to deflect or avoid any direct blows, as the Autobot was more heavily armored than he.  Starscream offered a kick which connected, but then the Autobot managed to jab the seeker in the back as he righted himself after the kick.  Starscream twisted, his claws extended and scraped the side of the green mech, eliciting a terrible cry.</p><p>Starscream saw that the Diamonds were rapt with attention.</p><p>The Autobot lunged, wrapping himself around Starscream’s waist and pulling him down to the ground.  He hit his helm on the floor, hard, and it dazed him.  The Autobot went for his neck cabling, attempting to cut off his intakes.  Starscream was able to bend himself at the waist and get his legs up to push the mech off of him using his bright blue pedes.</p><p>Skywarp caught his optic, indicating one of the flags in the corner.  Starscream nodded imperceptibly and flipped up from the ground, running from his attacker.  The Autobot yelled some kind of stupid insult and chased after the seeker.</p><p>His words were cut off when Starscream impaled him on a flag pole, just below the spark chamber.  The mech fell backward with a wheeze, grunting in pain.  Starscream walked over, panting from exertion and placed a turbined pede on his chest.  “Do you yield?” he said, his fanged denta showing at the end of his words.</p><p>The Autobot sagged and nodded pathetically. </p><p>Starscream moved to remove his pede, but he heard Yellow Diamond clear her throat.  “Starscream,” she said chiding.  “We told you to <em>destroy</em> him.”</p><p>Starscream hesitated, his optics looking at the frightened Autobot and then to the group of Autobots huddled in the corner.  “I apologize, my Diamond,” he said.  “But you also instructed me not to damage Pink Diamond’s toys.”</p><p>He wasn’t sure what was possessing him to do this.  Here was an Autobot he had just defeated in combat.  He’d killed plenty of Autobots before this and would likely kill more.  Yet he did not immediately offline him, despite being ordered to.  He thought that maybe it was pettiness that stayed his turbine.</p><p>An older, future Starscream would look back at this moment and shake his head in embarrassment.</p><p>Yellow was about to erupt, he could feel it even though he wasn’t looking at her.  Diamonds might not have had EM fields, but they had a certain shimmer of something around them, mired in mysticism and energy, that could be construed as similar. </p><p>“Yes, Yellow, I actually don’t want her dead yet,” Pink said rising from her seat.  She bounded down the steps and stood next to Starscream, staring down at her crumpled toy on the ground.</p><p>“<em>Him</em>, Pink.  Most Cybertronians like the male pronouns,” Yellow corrected, her anger already abating.  “Very well.  Escort them to Pink’s playrooms, then.”  Pink nodded enthusiastically and her small entourage of her court helped collect the wounded Autobot and gathered up the others to escort them out.</p><p>Pink was standing extremely close to Starscream now, and he struggled to deactivate his battle routines that were still raging.  She leaned closer to him.  “Have you killed many of your own kind?” she asked appraisingly.  Her curious diamond-shaped pupils looked him over as if weighing his worth.</p><p>“Yes, my Diamond,” he said slowly.  “We are at war.”</p><p>“What is it like?  Killing your own kind.”</p><p>He stared at her warily.  “My first kill was over so quickly, it was barely something I could register.  I am a warframe, but I had chosen a different path to life at first.  I was interested in science and knowledge, not fighting.  But I… learned my place,” he said casting a glance at Yellow who now approached them.</p><p>“A balanced answer, as always,” Yellow said.  “You would do well in politics, little seeker.”</p><p>Starscream bowed, but stiffly.  “Thank you, my Diamond.”</p><p>“Interesting,” Pink said and turned to follow her court out, smiling as she went.  That left Yellow and the trine alone.  Yellow looked like she might dismiss them until her eyes caught the other two seekers again.</p><p>“So this is your trine,” she said walking over to them.  “Last time you were here, you were not trined yet, as I recall?”</p><p>Starscream stayed in his bow, quietly worrying about her attention off of him.  “That is correct, my Diamond.  I had left Cybertron to go on my field study prior to trining.”</p><p>He noticed TC tilt his helm slightly in his direction.  Starscream had only given them brief details about his life prior to the Decepticons.  Yellow Diamond actually likely knew more about him than they did.</p><p>“Hm,” she said, looking at them appraisingly.  “I think we will have to get a demonstration of how trines fight.  I think there might be some applications for a new warrior unit I am thinking of creating.” She turned and went back to her throne, quietly.</p><p>“Until then, let Pearl show you to your quarters.”  Starscream rose from the bow and his trinemates warily followed the diminutive yellow creature out.</p><p>Starscream hesitated.  He had clearly been dismissed, so he was taking a risk.  “My Diamond… Why are we here?” he asked, trying soften his vocalizer from the shriek of dread he felt threaten to escape throat.</p><p>Yellow smirked from her throne.  “Is it not possible I just missed having my favorite pet around?”</p><p>Starscream allowed some of the polite subservience to fall from his face.  “I am not a pet, My Diamond.”</p><p>“Starscream, we keep playing this game.  I tell you what you are, and you tell me that you aren’t.  I prove to you my complete superiority to you, and yet you continue to try and escape it.  I’ve never really encountered anyone like you.  But I don’t know if it is because I like you or I want to see you <em>crushed</em>.”</p><p>Starscream’s tanks lurched.  No wonder she liked Megatron.  “I look forward to your decision, my Diamond,” he said with a bow.  He quickly walked away after his trine.</p><p>Yellow Diamond’s smirk fell as she watched him leave.</p><p> </p>
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